Washington

With a young team in a rebuild, Nats coaches focus on development

Published

2 years ago

August 30, 2022

With a young team in a rebuild, Nats coaches focus on development

Remark

After Darnell Coles was employed because the Washington Nationals’ hitting coach final fall, he jotted down notes for his first interview with reporters. The factors he needed to make — that instructing is vital, and that contenders are constructed on homegrown expertise — had been entrance of thoughts as a result of he was watching the playoffs from his sofa. So in mid-October, he listed the ultimate 4 groups and some of their cornerstones.

The Atlanta Braves: Austin Riley, Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies.

The Los Angeles Dodgers: Corey Seager, Will Smith, Cody Bellinger.

The Houston Astros: Carlos Correa, José Altuve, Alex Bregman, Yuli Gurriel.

The Boston Pink Sox: Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts.

“On the finish of the day, there’s a developmental plan that you need to have in place for the person participant so that when you get to the large leagues, you’re in a position to compete on a daily [basis],” Coles stated then, again when the Nationals employed Juan Soto and had been a barely older model of the rebuilding membership that faces the Oakland Athletics this week.

“It’s not such as you’re giving at-bats away or giving pitches away. Trigger on the main league stage, and particularly with this staff, you’re making an attempt to win. Your goal is to win. So we’ve got to have these guys prepared from day one.”

That goal, as soon as a core philosophy for the Nationals, has regarded completely different within the final two years. However in Coles’s offseason message was a transparent problem for himself and the membership’s different coaches. As Washington has slid down the standings, and because it slogs towards a 3rd consecutive last-place end, a lot has been made about its shortcomings in participant growth on the minor league stage. Within the majors, although, there’s a impressionable core that wants essential steering from Supervisor Dave Martinez and his workers.

The group contains 21-year-old shortstop CJ Abrams, 22-year-old second baseman Luis García, 24-year-old catcher Keibert Ruiz, 23-year-old lefty MacKenzie Gore, and 24-year-old righties Josiah Grey and Cade Cavalli. Down the road, if the Juan Soto-Josh Bell commerce shakes out nicely, outfielders Robert Hassell III and James Wooden may be a part of the image. Relying on well being and progress on the sector, prospects comparable to Brady Home, Elijah Inexperienced and Cole Henry may very well be within the combine, too, amongst others.

Elijah Inexperienced is eighteen and on the daybreak of his Nats profession. Right here’s how he acquired there.

The longer term is unsure for any of the Nationals’ present coaches. Baseball lifers are used to that. The Lerner household is exploring a sale, which means management may change at any level. Martinez, the supervisor who employed them, had his choice for 2023 picked up in July, then talked about that every of his coaches acquired a two-year deal earlier than the season. He needed them to see not less than the beginning of the rebuild by way of, letting their work finally communicate when larger choices are made. And now they’ve the expertise to place them on the clock.

“The times of creating within the minor leagues are virtually gone,” stated third base coach Gary DiSarcina, including how, increasingly, it appears as if gamers are debuting with uncooked instruments of their early 20s. “So we’ve got to virtually channel our participant growth expertise and use them up right here.”

The ‘absolute rush’ and never-ending strain of being a 3rd base coach

Past his front-facing job, DiSarcina is answerable for molding the Nationals’ younger infielders. Earlier this season, that meant day by day throwing and footwork drills with García, who can be far more snug after sliding again to second. Extra just lately, DiSarcina has had Abrams and García, a double play pairing Washington desires to develop to develop collectively.

DiSarcina’s monitor file contains Devers, Bogaerts and José Iglesias, all of whom debuted for the Pink Sox. As a participant, DiSarcina was known as up by the Los Angeles Angels at 21, appeared in two video games, then bounced between the majors and minors for an additional two years earlier than establishing himself.

Tim Bogar, the Nationals’ bench coach, additionally specializes with infielders and was just lately coaching Luke Voit at first base. When Abrams was promoted in mid-August, the staff put his locker subsequent to García’s, hoping they’d bond by way of their comparable ages and the strain on their shoulders. Whereas on a highway journey in San Diego, the entire workers arrived early so Abrams and García may take near an hour of on-field batting apply with Coles, no different gamers within the cage.

“Watching these two guys was so thrilling,” Coles stated a day after, rubbing his fingers in entrance of his face. “I imply, that’s a giant a part of our future proper there. That’s it.”

Their personalities are very completely different. At Petco Park, for instance, García took a guitar within the guests’ clubhouse and recklessly strummed, sticking his tongue out like a rocker. Abrams then requested for the instrument and frivolously picked on the strings, his fingers barely touching them. By means of DiSarcina’s eyes, they’re an unlikely pair that might complement one another nicely. Abrams, quiet and soft-spoken, possesses an earnestness García can study from. García performs and practices free, a superb affect for Abrams, who entered the week with simply six hits in 45 plate appearances for Washington.

Earlier than and through video games, DiSarcina, Bogar, Coles, first base coach Eric Younger Jr. and assistant hitting coach Pat Roessler — plus the video and analytics workers — will share pointers and information with the budding place gamers. Pitching coach Jim Hickey and bullpen coach Ricky Bones will achieve this with the pitchers. Henry Blanco, the staff’s catching and technique coach, is rarely removed from Ruiz or backup catcher Riley Adams.

From the archives: Keibert Ruiz sees a instructor in Henry Blanco. Henry Blanco sees a star in Keibert Ruiz.

Most of them have expertise teaching within the minor leagues, with Coles even beginning out as a roving hitting teacher for the Nationals. The workers’s basic purpose is to information these gamers and use the inevitable errors as a instrument.

“I had a variety of coaches that taught me what to not do. I grew up in a time while you acquired yelled at, you bought benched, you bought despatched down. If I used to be hitting .220 and never making performs, I used to be gone,” DiSarcina stated, later unpacking how his relationship along with his 23-year-old son helps him relate to Abrams and García.

“So I put myself in a father-son dynamic, and I’m like, ‘I’m not going to yell at him, I’m not going to scream at him, I’m not going to be upset in him,’ ” the coach continued. “I say, ‘Hey, let’s go, let’s come out tomorrow and we’ll work on this or work on that.’ Or … ‘Discuss to me about this.’ I believe the most important factor you need to have these days is engagement and collaboration with a participant.”

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Washington

What Gonzaga’s Mark Few said after win vs. Washington State

Published

4 hours ago

January 12, 2025

Press Room

What Gonzaga’s Mark Few said after win vs. Washington State

The Gonzaga men’s basketball team pulled away from Washington State for an 88-75 victory in the first meeting between the in-state rivals in over a decade.

Graham Ike led the way with 21 points on 8-for-11 from the field, Nolan Hickman added 19 points and the Bulldogs (14-4, 5-0 WCC) earned their fifth straight win to open league play by putting the Cougars (13-5, 3-2 WCC) away early in the second half. After ending the first half on an 8-2 scoring run, the Zags came out of the second half with a sense of urgency on both ends, sparking a 15-5 scoring run to make it a double-digit margin.

Here’s what Gonzaga head coach Mark Few had to say after the game.

On what he told the team at halftime that led to the strong start to the second half:

“I just told them, ‘hey, we’re in a we’re in a battle. It’s a great game. Both teams are competing really hard, and we’re at our best when we’re in attack mode.’ And they did a great job of taking the message and I thought we really went out and turned defense into offense, and we knew that was going to be a big key for us. [The Cougars] are hard to guard, they’re big and they’re physical, and [WSU coach David Riley] does a really lot of nice stuff on on offense that exploits mismatches. But our guys battled tonight, so I was really proud of them.”

On the team’s performance while Ryan Nembhard was on the bench for the final 9 minutes of the first half:

“They played great. I told them that in the locker room that that was huge. We haven’t really had to do that all year. And this guy [Nolan Hickman] stepped up. He was amazing tonight. I mean, seven boards … defensively in there, battling in the post. I mean, he did a lot of stuff that, as I said, he’s now, he set a high standard, so kind of be counting on that moving forward, but he and Dusty [Stromer] both really helped during that stretch and [Khalif Battle] and obviously having Ben [Gregg] and then Graham was rock solid all night.”

On the team’s effort on the defensive end of the floor in the second half:

“I thought our effort and our making plays, I thought it was definitely up there [with the best of the season], and just the physicality that it took. Because, again, they’re so much bigger than us at several of those spots. And again, you just don’t see the post-up thing like this, where your guards are getting constantly posted. But so in that way, we fought, we were physical and kind of had to navigate our way through a lot of different actions. There’s staggers and some curls and some switches and all that. For the most part, we did pretty good.”

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Washington

Washington Nationals Agree to Terms With Former All-Star Reliever

Published

12 hours ago

January 11, 2025

Press Room

Washington Nationals Agree to Terms With Former All-Star Reliever

The Washington Nationals have continued to invest into the pitching staff with another free agency move on Saturday.

Shared on social media, the Nationals announced that they had agreed to terms with relief pitcher Jorge Lopez on a one-year contract. That deal will be worth $3 million plus incentives per Jon Heyman.

This is the third pitcher that Washington has signed this offseason, with Michael Soroka brought in as a free agent and Trevor Williams receiving a new deal to say.

They also added another reliever, Evan Reifert, as a Rule 5 draft pick from the Tampa Bay Rays.

Lopez made headlines last year with his infamous exit from the New York Mets. He caused a stir after a loss when he referred to himself as ‘the worst teammate on the worst team in baseball.’

For a lot of players, that might spell an end to the season. The fastball-heavy reliever was able to bounce back. He was released and then signed a minor league contract with the Chicago Cubs.

The 31-year-old came back from controversy as strong as ever, posting a 2.03 ERA over the final 26.2 innings of work.

With the loss of Kyle Finnegan, Lopez makes sense as a potential replacement at closer. He does have some closing experience, but has not been his main role for much of his career.

That season, 2022, was the year he made his first and only All-Star team.

He is a ground ball machine that loves to force bad contact. Keeping him in a situational role could also be a smart idea, given that he struggles against lefties.

No matter how he is used, this is another good signal that the Nationals don’t want to throw any season away.

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Washington

Michigan basketball vs. Washington prediction: Can U-M stay undefeated in Big Ten?

Published

22 hours ago

January 11, 2025

Press Room

Michigan basketball vs. Washington prediction: Can U-M stay undefeated in Big Ten?

For Michigan basketball, the recent West Coast trip went about as well as hoped.

The No. 24 Wolverines (12-3, 4-0 Big Ten) picked up a pair of double-digit wins against the Big Ten’s Los Angeles-based teams — topping USC, 85-74, last Saturday and then defeating No. 21 UCLA, 94-75, Tuesday night as wildfires raged a few miles away — and now return home looking to make it three consecutive wins against league newcomers, welcoming Washington (10-6, 1-4) to Ann Arbor on Sunday afternoon (2 p.m., Big Ten Network).

The Huskies’ first trip to the Midwest hasn’t started well; they were dog-walked by Michigan State in East Lansing, 88-54, on Thursday. U-W trailed by 29 points at the half (42-13) and by more than 40 points in the second half (82-41 with less than five minutes to play) in an utter annihilation.

After two tight wins in conference play — by three points over Wisconsin and two over Iowa — U-M has won four games in a row by double digits and could make it five straight, with one of the bottom teams in the Big Ten coming to town.

Great Osobor with not-so-great help

U-Dub forward Great Osobor made headlines this offseason when he transferred from Utah State to Washington (following head coach Danny Sprinkle) for a then-record NIL deal worth $2 million.

Apparently, money doesn’t buy wins, because while Osobor has been decent, it hasn’t been nearly enough for the Huskies.

The senior leads the Huskies in scoring (13.8 points per game) and rebounding (8.4) but his efficiency has taken a large drop, as he has shot just 45% from the floor on 3s after hitting at least 57.7% in each of his first three college seasons. Some of that might be attributable to his increased 3-point tries — after attempting just 18 3s (and making four, for a 22.2% success rate) in his first 104 games, he has 14 3-point tries in 16 games this season (with only two makes, a 15.3% rate). More concerning is his 2-point shooting percentage: After hitting 59.1% last season, he’s at 47.7% inside the arc this season.

He has scored in double figures in 11 games with the Huskies, though much of his success came in a weak nonconference schedule. Though he put up 20 points and 14 rebounds vs. Maryland, he had just nine points and three boards vs. USC and a combined 15 points and eight rebounds vs. Illinois and MSU.

Sophomore guard Tyler Harris (Portland) is next at 12.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game while freshman point guard Zoom Diallo, a top-50 recruit according to 247 Sports’ composite rankings, averages 10.8 points per contest for Sprinkle’s team.

Overall, U-Dub is simply not up to Big Ten standard. On defense, the Huskies are No. 7 nationally in limiting 3-pointers (28%) and No. 69 in efficiency (99.9), per KenPom, but on offense, the Huskies are No. 149 in efficiency (107.4), No. 201 in 2-point shooting (50.1%) and No. 240 on 3s (32%).

Depth on display

The Wolverines, meanwhile, continue to flex their depth and balance with each passing game.

Michigan just defeated UCLA by 19 on the road and did so by scoring 94 points (the most a Mick Cronin team has ever allowed at home) without perhaps its most proven guard: Roddy Gayle Jr. (knee bruise) missed Tuesday’s game vs. the Bruins. U-M coach Dusty May said then it was too early to say if he’d play Sunday.

“Long-term health is priority No. 1 for us,” May said. “But I would say he’ll be back relatively soon.”

Gayle is one of five U-M players scoring in double figures for May in his first season in Ann Arbor. After putting up a career-high 36 points vs. the Bruins, center Vlad Goldin now leads the Wolverines at 15.8 points per game. Point guard Tre Donaldson (13.1 points) is next while Danny Wolf, Goldin’s frontcourt partner, averages a double-double at 12.5 points and 10.2 rebounds per game.

All three had standout games on the trip; Wolf started the L.A. double-dip becoming just the third NCAA player in more than 20 years with at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and six blocks, and Donaldson made a career-high four 3-pointers vs. USC, then topped it with six vs. UCLA.

And then there’s Gayle (12.4 points) and Nimari Burnett (10.5 points), who are both shooting better than 50% from the floor. Every starter has led the team in scoring at least once this season, a major reason U-M leads the country in 2-point shooting (62%) and effective field goal percentage (60.2%).

“I mean numbers don’t lie,” Donaldson said. “We’re shooting over 60% inside the arc, I mean just continuing to do that. We got big guys out here … with Danny doing what he does in and out. It’s hard to guard. Nobody’s seen nothing like that before.”

Prediction for Michigan basketball vs. Washington

The Wolverines’ outlook is worlds away from a year ago, when it was often U-M on the wrong side of the talent and coaching ledger. U-M is better than Washington in every facet. As long as the Wolverines don’t have a horrendous shooting night, or commit an egregious number of turnovers (they’re 16th nationally, at 15.2 per game), they just have too much talent and depth for U-Dub to slow down. The pick: U-M 88, Washington 68.

Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.

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